Fresh Beginnings
by The.Red.Terror
Summary: It seems Harrys wish for a quiet life will not be granted. This follows him through the funerals and trials of the summer into his seventh year in Hogwarts and trying to inspirse inter-house friendships. HP/DR please R
1. Chapter 1

**_"I've had enough trouble for a lifetime"_**

Harry smiled at the irony of his last words as he stepped into the entrance hall and saw Malfoy walking towards him. Trouble, it seemed had not had enough of him.

Malfoy stopped in front of him and looked at his feet. He seemed to be having difficulty getting his words out. Ron growled beside him.

"Could I have a word please Potter"?

"Sure Malfoy, what is it?" Malfoy looked from Ron to Hermione and back to Harry. Harry sighed.

"Alright come outside" He turned towards the doors.

"Wait Harry."

"No it's alright Ron. I'll meet you in the great hall in few minutes"

Harry walked out the door and continued out towards the forest. He stopped and turned back to face the blonde. Malfoy looked nervously out to the lake.

"I have a favour to ask you"

"Let me guess, you want me to testify for you and your parents in the forthcoming trials?" Harry should have seen this coming. Malfoy looked shocked.

"No, no, just for mother. Father and myself, well we shall survive Azkaban, however we cannot let mother end up there. It would kill her. We shall be fine as long as we know mother doesn't have to go through it. I know I have no right to ask you this, no right at all, and I have never given you reason to do anything but hate me but I'm begging you to do this for me."

"Well of course I'm going to testify for your mother, she's saved my life in the forest. And as a matter of fact so did you when we were captured and brought to your house.

So I shall be testifying for you and your mother and I'll have a word in Kinsley's ear for your father as well, as I know he hasn't been in possession of a wand since last summer. Speaking of wands I have yours here." He brought the three wands from his pocket and handed the hawthorn one to Malfoy.

"However I have a couple of conditions. You must come back here in September and do your NEWTS. And I would rather hope that we could put the past seven years behind us, and be civil, at least, to each other in future. Perhaps we can start with dropping the last names?"

"Certainly Harry. I can never thank you enough. If there is ever anything I can do for you please do not hesitate to ask. We shall be forever in your debt."

"Actually Draco there is one thing" Draco looked at him nervously

"Don't worry its nothing arduous. Just the name of your hairdresser."

The blonde looked shocked "My hairdresser?"

"Well in case you haven't realised I've been living rough for the past year. You've had at least 2 near death experiences tonight and yet you've not got a hair out of place. And I must make myself respectable for the several funerals I must attend in the next couple of weeks" Harry sighed at the thought.

"Well my hairdresser is good, but miracles may be beyond her control" Draco smirked

"Haha I don't expect miracles anything half way tidy is all I'm after"

"She's next to Madame Malkins in Diagon Alley. Ask for Alice. Tell her I sent you."

"HARRY?!?" He looked back towards the castle where he could see Ginny sillouetted against the bright lights of the entrance hall. He sighed again. He'd have to explain to her as well.

He started towards the castle then looked back over his shoulder to Draco who was looking out over the lake again

"Come on we'd better go talk to McGonagall"


	2. Chapter 2

As Harry walked out of the church carrying the remains of Severus Snape with Draco, Nott and Zambini, he thought how strange it was that such a small box could contain a man whose life force was so large.

As they laid the coffin down on the graveside he looked around the graveyard. He had been to so many funerals in the last two weeks that he now could recite the service in his sleep. Thankfully the dark clouds that had swept in overnight, breaking the mini drought of the past weeks, had not yet unleashed the heavens down on the cracked earth.

It was relief he felt this morning when he looked out his bedroom window of Gimmauld Place, to see the dark clouds. Funerals in dazzling sunlight didn't feel right. Colin Creevy's funeral had been the worst. In the bright sunlight, in the graveyard next to the sea, in the small Cornish town where he had grown up it seemed so wrong to bury someone so young.

Harry loosened his black tie slightly as the coffin was lowered into the ground. He was surprised how comfortable this black suit was, but the tie still annoyed him. He nearly garrotted himself one morning trying to get it too look right. This morning Draco had attacked him as he walked into the church and retied it for him.

He raised his hand to hair, habit making him try to flatten his hair although Alice, while miracles were indeed beyond her, had managed to make him look rather respectable. Hermione loved it. Said it made him look like a First World War fighter pilot. It now parted at the side and swept over his scar, which was the bit the Harry really liked.

Looking at the party around the grave, he felt oddly alone as Ron put an arm around Hermione. Draco stood with Nott beside him. He looked completely emotionless but for the single tear that rolled from his grey eyes down his cheek.

Harry sighed. The thought of the summer stretched out in front of him was scary. Hermione was off in the morning to rescue her parents. He didn't feel comfortable at The Burrow. It was too sad. Mrs Weasley spent all her time crying and everyone else was devastated too. George had barely spoken ten words since the battle.

As the coffin was lowered into the ground and Harry said goodbye to Severus Snape he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Seamus in a black suit behind him.

"Hi Harry" His voice, with it's lilting Irish accent, was lowered in respect.

"Hey Seamus, how are you?"

"I'm grand, desperate sad isn't it. He was a awful grump but still you wouldn't wish that on anyone" He looked sadly into the coffin. "Still he got a good turn out didn't he"?

"Yeah and there's talk of an Order of Merlin" Harry had heard this rumour at Lupin and Tonks funeral.

"God. Well I came over to ask you what your plans were for the summer?"

"I don't really have any, I was thinking I might take off somewhere but I haven't got any idea where"

Seamus smiled "I thought it might be like that. Well if you'd like to come over to Ireland for a couple of weeks your more then welcome to stay with us. Get out of the way for a few weeks. No one around us to annoy you, all muggles in our part of the country."

"Are you sure? I'd bloody love to. It's gonna be crazy around here for the next few weeks, longer probably." Harry smiled properly for the first time in weeks

"The house is a bit of a mess, Ma's been away for the last few weeks. Actually we might stay with my sister altogether. She's got a real nice place. And she can cook. Yeah that's what we'll do. Plan!" Seamus laughed, "When do you want to come over?"

"Whenever suits you. How'll I get over?"

"Floo. She's connected, is your place?"

"Yeah, It's 12 Gimmauld Place"

"Grand how does Wednesday around 12 sound?"

"Great. Thanks so much Seamus." Harry grinned again.

"Thank you. You're doing me a favour you know, stuck with my sister all summer is not my idea of fun. Actually its great fun but a little tiring. You'll know what I mean when you meet her. I'll see you next week" Seamus turned and walked off to talk to Neville, slapping Harry on the back as he left.

As Harry apperated back to Gimmauld Place he decided, with considerably lighter spirits that maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Harry sat in the kitchen waiting for Seamus to arrive. He had packed a couple of bags and shrunken them with a handy spell that Hermione had shown him. He and Ron had seen her off in the airport yesterday. Ron nearly tried to get on the plane with her.

Harry stood up and walked around the kitchen again. He pulled his wand from his pocket and cast _Tepus _to find out the time. 12.15.

He grabbed a candle from the draw of the dresser to practice wandless magic again. Hermione had been on at him about it and he had to admit he rather liked the idea of not needing to depend on his wand completely. When he had been without his over the last few months it made him realise how much he depended on it.

Hermione's first challenge had been to get him well able to do non-verbal spells. Apart from _Levicorpus_ he had never quite managed non-verbal spells. Hermione, it turned out, was quite a good teacher.

Harry shook his head and concentrated on the candlewick. He imagined flames spurting out of it and waved his hand over the wick, feeling extremely silly. As Hermione had said, if he let self-consciousness get into his head he would fail. The candle remained unlit.

He stretched his shoulders and neck and began again. Visualisation was the key apparently. He stared at the wick until his eyes crossed, seeing the imaginary flames flickering in front of him. Then he waved his hand and said the spell clearly in his head.

A spark flew from his hand and the book he had been reading on WW1 poets went up in flames.

Cursing Harry grabbed his wand and shouted _Argumenti_ at the book. The fire went out and Harry sat down breathing heavily. At least something happened this time he thought.

He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes only too jump up startled when the fire whooshed up and Seamus stepped into the room.

Seamus looked at the still smoking book in surprise.

"God Harry no matter how much the book was annoying you, sending it up in flames is not the answer! Practising wandless magic I assume?" He laughed

Harry rubbed his hands over his eyes then had to smile at the merry look on his friends face.

"Yeah. Hermione is doing her best but I'm an awful klutz" he sighed.

"Don't worry about that. You should meet my sister. Well you will shortly but she manages to trip over flat surfaces and she brilliant with wandless magic. She barely ever needs her wand. Course the school she went to were big on wandless magic"

Harry looked at him with interest

"Where'd she go?"

"Solus Na Réalta, School For Young Ladies Of Propriety and Sight. My sister's a seer, but there is nothing proper about her. She's only my half sister really but we grew up together. I think she's vaguely related to Professor Trawleney. Silly old bat. I'm more of a seer then she is. But my sister is quite talented supposedly. You'll meet her soon. It's her place we're goin' to be stayin' in."

"What does Solus Na Réalta mean?" asked Harry trying to get his tongue around the unfamiliar Irish words

Seamus laughed at his pronunciation "Light of the Stars. Quite a good school by all accounts, I know my sister liked it. She wanted to go to Hogwarts but her aunts insisted she went to Solus. She can tell you all about it, now come on or we'll miss lunch. Sorry I was late but I always forget how long it takes to get here. We have to floo to Wales then from there to the Irish ministry then to Doonard. Its very bloody complicated but it has to be done. Irish regulations. Bloody basterding nanny state is what we live in. you have no idea how easy you lot have it." He laughed again and stepped into the fire shouting "Welsh Ministry" and disappeared.

Harry sighed, pulled his glasses off stuck them in his pocket, smoothed his fringe down, shouted goodbye to Kreacher and stepped into the flames.

*****************

Half an hour later, as he stepped into a small study, Harry swore to himself that he would never travel by floo to Ireland again unless it was totally necessary. As he stood there leaning against the mantelpiece waiting for his stomach to settle, he looked around the room which he now realised was a private study. Three walls were stuffed with books, mostly old magic tomes, with a large bay window facing him and a spiral staircase leading downstairs beside it. Harry looked back at the fireplace wondering what had happened to Seamus.

Feeling slightly more human, Harry walked over to the bay window and looked out. He thought he was up on a 3rd floor and he looked down onto a small wood and on the far side he could see a horse and rider cantering across a large field. He watched as the rider, who he thought was a girl, popped the horse over a large ditch and cantered on. Turning back into the room he walked to the desk and sat in the comfortable looking, well worn red armchair and relaxed.

Looking at the dark floorboards and the old fashioned blue and cream rug, a terrible thought hit him. What if he was in the wrong place?!?! What if Knockturn alley had happened again?!?

He relaxed again. It couldn't have happened. Seamus had made him pronounce the name at him several times to make sure he got it right. Doonard House, County Wicklow.

Looking at the desk he saw writing paper with Doonard House printed on the top and he relaxed further. He was in the right place but where was Seamus?

He picked up a book that was lying on the desk and looked at the title, Myths and Legends of Ireland Lady Gregory. He opened it randomly and was engrossed by the story of Óisin in Tir Na Óg when Seamus appeared in the fireplace. He brushed the soot from his dark jeans and placed a small parcel on the mantelpiece.

"Sorry 'bout that, one of my uncles attacked me as I was getting into the fire" he said as he turned to Harry.

"He attacked you?" asked Harry worriedly. Seamus laughed

"Not in that sense of the word no, family relations aren't that bad yet, no its grand he just wanted a word and pulled me bodily from the fireplace. He's concerned about my education or lack thereof rather for the past year. He wanted my assurances that I would be returning to Hogwarts next year. Come on I'm starved."

"Are you going back?" asked Harry

"Oh defiantly" confirmed Seamus as he walked down the pale green-blue spiral staircase "What about yourself?"

"I think so. I think I have too. I have no idea what I want to now anyway and I'm physically unable to do nothing. Um Seamus where are we?" Harry had found himself standing in a large bedroom decorated in creams and the same duck egg blue green as the staircase. It was an elegant room with high ceilings, a large brass unmade bed, with a pale wooden floors and more old-fashioned rugs and furniture. The two large bay windows were open with the beautiful fragrance of summer blowing softly in on the breeze.

"This is my sisters room, that's her private library upstairs which connects to her dressing room as well. When she inherited the house it was nearly a ruin so she decided to take in lodgers. She's got 6 muggles living with her so she needed to move her floo arrangements. I don't think anyone knows that's up there. They don't even notice the stairs. I must ask her what the spell is on them" He turned to go out the door "She's an awful slob of course, terrible messy"

"Seamus how big is this place that she can fit 6 muggles and the pair of us?" Harry asked in awe

"Tis pretty big. I don't know how many rooms there are or anything you'll have to ask her. Come on we'll go down the back stairs, it's easier. Crap!" said Seamus as he extracted a buzzing mobile from his pocket. It was playing Michael Jackson at him. "Damn I'm gonna kill the cow." Seamus growled and as he answered the phone his voice changed completely.

"Hello?" Harry followed him down a narrow staircase and along a long corridor. Seamus frowned into the phone

"How come?"

"Right. And then what happened?"

"Ah Jayzus you complete eejit what where you thinking?"

Harry was finding this one-way conversation intriguing. As he walked down another narrow staircase behind Seamus he could hear the person on the other end of the phone getting angry as he shouted what sounded like obscenities at him. Harry grinned as Seamus, leading him into the kitchen, screamed "Well fuck you too ye auld hoor!" and hung up.

"Jesus Christ fuckin women Harry, I'm not even goin out with the bitch n she's acting like…oh Jesus I dunno. Anyway sit down, tea?"

"Oh yeah pl-" Harry was cut off by a screech of brakes and the bang of a door as a girl of maybe 19 or 20 stormed into the well lit kitchen followed by a flock of dogs.

Her hair was the same colour as Ginny's but cut short above her shoulders, and while Ginny was soft with feminine curves, this girl was tall, with lean muscles and angular shoulders. She wore a pair of frayed faded shorts, a ripped t-shirt with an AC/DC logo on the front and a pair of dusty black riding boots. She had a Jack Russell under one arm and a black fluffy teddy bear like creature under the other along with a bunch of very bright flowers. She had a mobile stuck between her shoulder and cheek and was shouting something about a collarbone into it while an unlit cigarette hung from between her lips. She dropped the two dogs on the ground, threw the flowers into the bin at the far side of the kitchen and waved her hand over her cigarette effortlessly lighting it with the same wandless spell that Harry had been trying to do earlier. Seamus retrieved the flowers from the bin and looked at the card attached while the girl growled a goodbye over the phone and chucked it onto the table.

"Welcome Harry darling to Doonard, I'm Rory" she said as she took his hand in her own ,which was pale and slim but quite rough, and kissed him on the cheek. "Seamus we've got a problem, fucking Robbie has gone and broken his collarbone. I've got to find a jockey whose crazy enough to ride Batty tomorrow. Any ideas?"

Seamus scratched his chin "How about Alan? And what's wrong with these flowers? The cards quite nice"

"They're carnations. I fucking hate carnations. What does it say? I tried him he's riding in Cork tomorrow. Make me some tea would you? I'm bet, the lads all fucked off this morning and I've still got 3 horses to ride out."

"Which 3? I'll do one for you. Earl Grey? Its Yeats "But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." He wishes for the clothes of heaven I think it is. Where have they all gone? You should ride him"

Harry followed this conversation with increasing difficulty. It would be fair to say he was very confused. Seamus pottered around the kitchen making tea and putting the hated carnations which, he had to admit were rather gaudy, in a vase, while Rory threw herself on a chair and summoned an ashtray, again wandlessly.

"Benazzi, Batty and George. Yeah please that would be great. That is nice but so very unoriginal. Put them in Jackie's room she'll like them. James is gone to Cork, Andy to England and Frank to his sisters wedding. I can't his weight is too much. I'd need a stone of lead"

"Hey Harry?" Seamus grinned wickedly at him "You ever ridden a racehorse?"

* * *

**A/N sorry it took so long to update. i have gremlins lol. please let me know what you think about Rory so far. **

**Press the button R+R please. Also you guys really need to read The Man Who Lived by Chase820  
**


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